Car-spring.



PATENTED JUNE 23, 1908.

T.A.'S HEA. OAR SPRING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 7, 1907.

- 1-1 L319 l'o'c i2 Wilma we 0 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. SHEA, OF HAMMOND, INDIANA.

GAR-SPRING.

Specification of Letterslatent.

Application filed January 7, 190?. Serial'No. 351,233.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, THOMAS A. SHEA, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Hammond, in the county of Lake and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Springs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for control ling the recoil of coil springs and consists in improvements on certain devices heretofore patented by me. These devices consist roadly in cap-plates inclosing "the coil or coils and having side flanges in contact. The bases of the cap-plates are curved, one concave and one convex, so that the flanges of one are sprung in and, the flanges of the other,sprung out, into. frictional en agement, whereby the vibrations are contro led or retardedthe greater the load, the greater the friction and therefore the more retarding effect. I

My present invention consists in arranging within the cap-plates, supplementary bear-.-

ing plates, directly in contact and engagement with the coils, whereby the pressure of the coils rings on the 09. -plates is equalized, and the atter relieved om strain and unequal wear. These bearing plates may be of any suitable material; such as steel or malle' ab e iron while the cap-plates must be of tempered spring steel. particularly applicable to springs carrying eavier loads. 5 My invention is shown in the drawing herewith, in which the reference numerals of the" description indicate the corresponding parts in all the figures.-

Figure 1 shows, in side elevation, my inventlon applied to a single coil, or nest of coils. Figs. 2 and Sam elevations of the capplates and bearing plates detached. Figs. 4 and 5 show in, side elevation and in plan, my invention applied to. a cluster.

In the figures 1 indicates the 11 per capplate, havinga convex base and si e flanges 2 arrangedwithin the flanges 3 of the lower cap-plate 4 having the concave base.

-5 1s the coil, or coils, 6 and 7 are respectively the. upper and lower bearing plates, which en age directly with the coils. These bearing p ates may beflat as 7 and asin Fig. 4, and resilient to conform under load to the cap-plate bases, or curved "to fit thecap- This invention is them resilient, and I prefer them flat and untempered.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, these bearing plates may be formed with sockets 10 for theolt 1 1 to retain the coils in position.

I have found that in. certain cases, and where the load was heavy as in-tenders,-locomotives andheavy cars, the cap-plates sometimes broke. This seemed to be caused Patented June 23, 1908.

plate bases, but it is not necessary to make by the directcontact and wear of the springs,

which crystallized, or unequally wore, or

strained the metal of the cap-plates, so that occasionally under sudden shock or strain they snapped.- This difiiculty and danger of accident has been entirely overcome by my present invention. This difficulty could not overcome by making the caplate thicker to resist the wear, because sucht ickening reduced the elasticity, and reducing the elasticity increases the danger of breakage.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters I Patent, is

1. In a controlhng device for coil springs,

the combination, with the coil, of two ca plates inclosing the coil and having si e anges, the flanges of one cap-plate being ar-' ranged within the flanges of the other, and a flat integral bearin p ate arranged between the coil at each en and the cap-plate.

2. A controlling device for coil springs,

having in combination acoil spring, two" tempered s ring steel cap-plates inclosing the coil an having side flan es, one ca plate having a concavely curve base and t e other a convexly curved base, the cap-plate with the convex base having its flanges ar-' ranged within the flanges of the cap-plate with the concave base, and flat, integral, non-resilient bearing plates of untem ered steel arranged. between the coil at eac end and the cap-plate,.said bearing plates ena gaging directly with the coil and protecting I the cap-plates from wear and strain.

-In testimony whereof I. have signed my 

